Taking on That One Great Leap

Ayala TBI’s 4th Innovation Forum for 2012 featured Juan Great Leap, a start-up movement which aims to encourage Filipinos to take the great start-up leap.

Peter Cauton, a man who has gone to more than 6,000 interviews, talked of how being in the Human Resources industry for 10 years has led him to become bored and demotivated. He noted that through the support of his wife and after much discernment, he was able to take the leap into having a business of his own back in 2008. What started with STORM Consulting, was soon followed by Searchlight, Stream Engine Studios, and the Mobile App School. Peter even went on and started his 1st blog – http://juangreatleap.com/ – which served as the avenue for start-ups and start-up wanna-be’s.

Peter talks of how it was during these periods in his life that he got to realize that money & meaning no longer need to be exclusive…that it is actually passion that would make you stand out…and that now, more than ever, is the right time to strike in the Philippine field.

Peter introduced three start up samurais who comprised the panel; Denton Chua (Medical and Tech Entrepreneur, CEO and President of HealthCube, Howard Go (Mobile Game Developer, Co-Founder of Mochibits), and Glenn Santos (Writer, Serial Entrepreneur and Founder of Memokitchen). The panel started off with the punches that they dealt with when they were just starting up their business ventures. All three were fearless as they shared with the big crowd of more than a hundred who braved the big downpour last August 29 at the Tech Portal, UP-AyalaLand TechnoHub. They talked of threats from big players, economic instability, internal theft, and a labor case, amongst others. They gave their advices of how a start up wanna-be should consciously adopt a growth mindset – described as a mix of optimism and realism. They reiterated that if an aspiring entrepreneur thinks he or she has certain skill sets, one has to think again and put it to test to find one’s real skill sets. A risk and reward system was also pointed out as a constant in all entrepreneurial ventures. All panel members were one in saying that everything truly boils down to you making that DECISION.

These samurais echoed that their strengths lie in their trust for others, full commitment, and the ardour for continuous learning. From the first-hand stories of these four courageous entrepreneurs, the question posed to the crowd was: “are you ready to take that great leap?”